Freemuse

12/10/2026

Freemuse's mid-2026 regional updates turn to Sub-Saharan Africa. Across the region, artists face imprisonment, censorship and enforced disappearances, despite legal reforms aimed at protecting freedom of expression.

In Sierra Leone, musician Zainab Sherif was sentenced to four years in prison after condemning vote rigging. In Ethiopia, Teddy Afro faced retaliation for songs critical of the government.

In Eritrea, satirical cartoonist Biniam Solomon was released after 15 years of detention without trial. Poet Amanuel Asrat, however, remains detained after 25 years. In Nigeria, authorities threatened to prosecute the producers of a same-sex film. Uganda banned a song over public safety concerns.

Courts in Uganda, Nigeria, Botswana and Kenya have issued rulings strengthening freedom of expression, but new restrictions continue to undermine this progress.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, the gap between legal reform and reality remains wide.

Read the full report:

📷 Call to Arms (2015–2025), a sculpture by Elana Mann.

08/10/2026

Not all music is harmless. When lyrics call for murder, incite homophobia, misogyny or other forms of hatred and violence, the consequences can be serious, even lethal. Freedom of artistic expression is a fundamental right, but it is not absolute. There are circumstances in which restrictions are justified. Yet laws intended to protect vulnerable communities are not always fairly or consistently applied.

🎸 Take, for example, narcocorridos – songs that celebrate Mexico's drug cartels and that have, in some cases, been banned. But what about rap bélico (warrior rap), written and performed by police officers who, like the cartels, are themselves no strangers to extreme violence? Why should music glorifying violence by criminal organisations be censored, while music celebrating violence by state agents escapes similar scrutiny?

Quoted in an article published by RevueXXI, Freemuse Latin America researcher Diana Arévalo Giraldo explains:

➡️ “Because rap belico glorifies the state rather than the cartels, it remains unaffected by the censorship laws [that target narcocorridos].” She adds: “Prohibition addresses a symptom, not the disease. The structural problem doesn’t stem from the music. It stems from violence, inequality, and a lack of opportunity, things ingrained in the social, economic, and political life of Mexico. And these songs are merely a reflection of that.”

➡️ Read the full article in Revue XXI (in French)

En réaction aux chansons à la gloire des barons de la drogue, flics et militaires se lancent dans la musique. Et glorifient une autre brutalité.

07/10/2026

The Palestinian rapper and musician Elsusi, who fled bombardment and the humanitarian catastrophe, will discuss challenges to artistic freedom under pressure and how music tells stories at risk of censorship or political reduction in a conversation at Copenhagen Union Club with Freemuse co-founder Ole Reitov on Saturday 10 October.

After the conversation, Elsusi takes the stage with his repertoire, which circles around love, fatherhood, everyday life, displacement, identity and artistic freedom.

Elsusi is now an ICORN (International Cities of Refuge Network) guest in Stavanger, Norway.

The event is part of Danish PEN's Forbidden Books campaign and is presented in collaboration with Copenhagen Municipality's Free City Programme, Union and Rapolitics.

Info & tickets: https://union.kk.dk/en/events/elsusi-concert-talk

📸 Union

29/09/2026

Turkish comedian Deniz Göktaş was sentenced yesterday to nearly 19 months in prison after being convicted of insulting President Erdoğan and religious values during a stand-up show that went viral online. After spending almost 90 days in detention, he was released pending appeal but remains under a travel ban.

During his defence, Göktaş said that, as a comedian, he was proud to see just how powerful words can be. “But as a citizen, I am saddened by my country’s record on freedom of expression” he added. He also said that his experience had only strengthened his commitment to his work: “Once I regain my freedom, I will continue performing with even greater enthusiasm and confidence. My only concern is that this case might discourage other performers and lead them to practice even more self-censorship.”

Freemuse is concerned by Göktaş’s case and growing restrictions on freedom of expression in Türkiye.

Read more here: https://www.freemuse.org/freemuse-calls-for-immediate-release-of-comedian-deniz-goktas

📸 Instagram/

01/09/2026

Freemuse's mid-2026 updates continue. Across South Asia, artists in India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are facing tighter restrictions on their work. Music, film and screen media have become the frontline this year. The mechanisms keep shifting for artists, which makes them harder to fight.

In India, arbitrary delays in film certification kept Jana Nayagan off screens for months. Satluj, the story of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, spent three years in censorship limbo before being pulled from streaming less than 48 hours after release.

In Nepal, a new classification procedure encourages filmmakers to self-censor before they even submit their work.

In Pakistan, censorship is landing on bodies and intimacy: a sari adjusting scene cut for being "too intimate" and a shirtless actor blurred mid-shoulder. In Sri Lanka, Tamil rapper HipHop Sangee was arrested under anti-terrorism law over a performance video. In Bangladesh, a Baul folk music program was suspended under pressure from opposing groups.

In South Asia, censorship is taking many forms, bans, delayed releases, self-censorship, criminalisation. Whatever the method, the effect is the same: less room for artists to work freely.

Read the full report: https://www.freemuse.org/south-asia-music-film-and-screen-media-become-a-battleground

📷 Call to Arms (2015–2025), a sculpture by Elana Mann.

26/08/2026

Cultural philanthropist Osman Kavala has been in prison since 2017. Yesterday, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights ruled again that Türkiye violated his rights and said he must be released as soon as possible.

Kavala, founder of Anadolu Kültür, a civil society organisation supporting cultural exchange and the arts, was detained over alleged links to the 2013 Gezi Park protests and later sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for attempting to overthrow the constitutional order.

Film producer Çiğdem Mater and documentary filmmaker Mine Özerden were sentenced to 18 years in the same case and have been jailed since April 2022.

Kavala funded culture. Mater and Özerden made films. Three rulings, eight and a half years later, and Turkey continues to resist the pressure to reverse course.

And it is artists and cultural workers who pay.

Freemuse calls for their immediate and unconditional release and for an end to the prosecution of artists and cultural workers for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

Read more: https://www.freemuse.org/european-court-of-human-rights-osman-kavala-must-be-released-immediately

📷 Osman Kavala’s website.

25/08/2026

Chinese artist Gao Zhen has been sentenced to three years in prison for "slandering China's heroes and martyrs" through his satirical art mocking Mao Zedong.

Gao Zhen, 70, is half of the internationally acclaimed Gao Brothers duo. He was detained while visiting China in August 2024 and has remained in detention since. Taking into account the time he has already served, his sentence will expire in August 2027. He intends to appeal his conviction.

Freemuse joins international condemnation of the sentence against Gao Zhen and calls for his conviction to be overturned and for him to be freed immediately and unconditionally, enabling him and his family to return to the USA.

Read more: https://www.freemuse.org/gao-zhen-three-years-in-prison-for-art-mocking-mao

📷️ Wikimedia | Kimberli Mäkäräinen

24/08/2026

Freemuse and Selam have submitted a joint report to the UN Universal Periodic Review of Uganda. The report points to serious concerns about artistic freedom, even with recent legal progress.

Since 2023, Uganda's Constitutional Court has struck down several repressive provisions used against artists and government critics. Artists still face harsh penalties for satirical content about the President, and laws restricting criticism remain in force.

The submission also highlights politically motivated suppression, including concert cancellations and the unresolved disappearance of musician King Zale, missing since April 2026.

Freemuse and Selam call for stronger protections for artists, credible investigations into disappearances, and the repeal of laws shielding public officials from criticism.

Read more: https://www.freemuse.org/ugandas-artists-still-at-risk-despite-court-victories

13/08/2026

Freemuse's mid-2026 updates continue, this time turning to Latin America. Between January and June 2026, Freemuse and Cartel Urbano's Bulla platform documented at least 75 violations of artistic freedom in the region. Music was the art form most affected. But artists keep creating, and resisting.

Censorship in Peru, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina increasingly comes through administrative decisions, vague legislation and executive orders. A satirical sculpture was pulled in Peru just minutes before its opening. Murals were painted over in Mexico and Colombia. In Argentina, songs were quietly dropped from state radio.

Some of the violence has been deadly. In Colombia, Mexico and Peru, musicians and cultural workers, caught up in extortion and organised crime, keep getting killed, often with no one held accountable. In Cuba, independent artists are detained and prosecuted for nothing more than their work.

Courts in Argentina and Brazil have pushed back, ruling against censorship.

Artistic freedom is inseparable from human rights.

Read the full report: https://www.freemuse.org/latin-america-censored-not-fully-protected

10/08/2026

Freemuse’s mid-2026 update highlights the growing pressures facing artists in the MENA region. Artists are confronting war, displacement and mounting restrictions on freedom of expression, but they continue to create, document and resist.

In Lebanon, war has devastated communities and disrupted a vibrant cultural life. In occupied Gaza and the West Bank, Palestinian artists continue to document loss, memorialise their stories and protect cultural heritage despite violence, displacement and siege. In Morocco, Algeria and Egypt, artists and filmmakers face detention, prosecution and restrictions linked to their work and expression.

Across the region, artists continue to make art, tell their stories and bear witness, often at extraordinary personal risk.

Artistic freedom is inseparable from human rights.

Read the full report: https://www.freemuse.org/mena-artists-confronting-war-and-repression